Poster #68 - A Mixed Method Study of Children’s Literature as a Priming Event for Education Majors’ Views

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

Theory and research point to teachers’ views and beliefs about children (including their “image of the child”) as being predictors of teachers’ practices and children’s outcomes (e.g., Malaguzzi, 1994; Upadyaya & Eccles, 2014, 2015), underscoring the importance of understanding the processes and factors involved as future teachers develop views of children and teaching. Children’s books are most commonly recognized for their potential to promote language and emergent literacy skills in children through shared reading with adults (e.g., Payne, Whitehurst, & Angell, 1994). Children’s books have also been used to promote desired behaviors, such as healthy eating (Heath, Houston-Price, and Kennedy 2014) in children. However, beyond this, children’s books can be used to foster desired understanding and perspective-taking in adults, including in teacher education (e.g., Beck, Walker-DeVose, Agnich, Town, & Smith, 2017). The purpose of this mixed method study was to explore if a children’s book that portrays a child as a strong and competent protagonist could be used to prime freshman education majors to report more positive views of children and teaching. The sample included 108 freshman education majors (95.4% female) attending a regional Midwestern university. Participants were randomly assigned to a primed or control condition. Primed condition participants listened to the book “When Stella Was Very, Very Small” (Gay, 2012) prior to completing a questionnaire, whereas control condition participants completed the questionnaire with no priming event. Measures of the image of the child and the role of teacher were adapted from Carter and Roe (2013); participants also responded to an open-ended question: “What characteristics do you attribute to childhood?” Independent t-tests were used to test the hypothesis that primed participants would report more positive views than the comparison participants regarding the image of the child, and chi-square tests were used to explore if there were group differences in the views about the role of the teacher. Text data was qualitatively analyzed for themes (Creswell, 2012), with attention to similarities and differences in the groups. Quantitative results (see tables 1 and 2) included some statistically significant mean differences between the groups, with primed group participants rating children as less vulnerable, less fragile, and less nervous (p < .05). Participants in the primed group were also more likely to include empowering as among their top four roles of teachers (p < .05). Qualitative findings included identification of three main themes present across the two group: (1) children as “beings” vs. “becomings,” (2) innocence and wonder, and (3) theories about dispositions and roles of children and adults in learning. Whereas the same themes were present across both groups, there were distinguishing nuances, such as primed participants more commonly focusing on children’s lives in the here-and-now (i.e., “beings) and the control group participants more commonly focusing on children’s lives in the future (i.e., “becomings”). This study provides insight about the potential of children’s literature to prime adults’ views about children and teaching, and suggests a need for additional research that can inform teacher educators’ and teachers’ practices to improve children’s well-being.

Authors

• Keely Cline, Northwest Missouri State University
  Presenting Author

• Elizabeth Keane Dimmitt, Northwest Missouri State University
  Non-Presenting Author